Munich  - In the US Landon Donovan is considered as possibly the best there is and even though he plays for the same club as former English captain David Beckham, the striker is considered the star in the team.

But unlike Beckham, whose loan club AC Milan is pulling out all the stops to keep the midfielder in Serie A, Donovan will be leaving German champions Bayern Munich and returning to his Major League Soccer club, LA Galaxy next week.

Donovan's time at Bayern Munich is his third attempt to secure a breakthrough in the Bundesliga, but just like his previous times at Bayer Leverkusen, the striker has failed.

On Saturday Donovan played his last Bundesliga match for Bayern and just like his seven previous outings in a competitive game, he failed to score.

Signed on a short-term loan contract until March 15, Donovan was hoping that Bayern would move to keep him longer, or sign him outright.

"I am a little bit sad to be leaving," he said.

After the 5-1 victory against Hanover on Saturday, during which Donovan was brought on in the 80th minute, the American was bid farewell in the change-rooms by a round of applause from his team- mates.

He did not receive a parting gift, although he said he would have had just the right suggestion: "A three-year contract."

At Bayern Munich Donovan had the full support of coach Juergen Klinsmann, who brought him on in every game, but the 27-year-old could not repay the faith with goals - again coming close four minutes from time against Hanover, only to see goalkeeper Robert Enke pull off a fantastic save.

"I tried my best at Bayern," Donovan said.

After impressing in friendlies during the winter break and scoring four goals, Donovan was considered the third-ranked striker at Bayern, behind Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose, but before Germany striker Lukas Podolski.

The Bayern board turned down the chance to keep Donovan on beyond the loan period, citing the high transfer fee - said to be 8 million euros (10.11 million dollars) - as one of the reasons.

"It was also a question of the money that the MLS demanded for me and that Bayern was prepared to pay that prevented me staying," Donovan explains.

But if Donovan is understandably disappointed, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, who is likely to lose Beckham to AC Milan, is delighted.

"Finally some good news. We look forward to his return," Arena said about the player who last season topped the goalscorer charts with 20 goals from 25 matches and was crowned the Footballer of the Year. dpa